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“I spent a decade playing stoners,” Zahn said. “And then one day, all of a sudden, I'm a genius.”

To which Christian Slater - Zahn's co-star in the new series Mind Games - interjected, “Karma.”

But Zahn isn't a straight-forward genius in Mind Games, which debuts Tuesday, March 25 on ABC and City. His character, Clark Edwards, has bipolar disorder, which has provided him with something of a checkered past, both professionally and personally.

As Mind Games begins, Clark and his brother Ross (Slater) have started up a new business together. Clark, a former university professor, is a world-renowned expert in the fields of human behaviour, psychology and motivation. Ross, who spent two years in prison for fraud and is trying to turn his life around, sees a financial opportunity.

Basically what this new family business sells is an alternative to fate. Why leave the big moments in your life to fate, Clark and Ross ask you. With Clark's expertise, you can manipulate most situations to your benefit. It's part science, part con artistry.

“We don't listen to each other,” Clark explains in the opening episode of Mind Games. “We react to a million little things that we're not even aware of.”

Point being, if you were trying to convince someone else of something – say, if you were in a job interview, or were making an insurance claim, or were fighting a traffic ticket, or were running for office - it would be in your best interest if you were controlling those “million little things.” That's where Clark, Ross and their team supposedly can help.

The thing is, if Clark goes on medication for his bipolar disorder, it “stops the music,” so to speak. But he also can't be so volatile that he scares off potential clients. The business is one step away from insolvency.

“(Clark) is unmedicated (at the beginning of Mind Games) and part of the reason why he has become a genius, basically, in human manipulation and behaviour and psychology is just to understand his own problem and be able to deal with that,” Zahn said. “Sometimes it's an important part of the character and sometimes it's not. It's quite a common disorder and there are many different levels of it."

The “genius in turmoil” angle, especially when it involves an uncanny ability to read other people, has been utilized often in TV, with recent shows such as Lie To Me, Perception and Homeland. Mind Games is more like the first two, though, in that there's a lot of comedy, which obviously is no stretch with Zahn involved.

“You know, good writing is good writing and it's easy to learn that stuff, whether it's on Treme (the New Orleans-set HBO series on which Zahn was a regular from 2010 to 2013) or on this show. When it's brilliant stuff, it's fun to learn.

“I read this and went, 'Wow, this is smart and has depth and has character and is different.'”

Well, it's certainly different in that Steve Zahn isn't playing a stoner. In your face, gnarly type-casting dude.